Managing Multiple Cartridges that are Electrically Coupled Together

ABSTRACT

Managing multiple cartridges that are electrically coupled together includes obtaining general purpose command instructions from a chassis with a cartridge where the cartridge has a unique application and is connected to the chassis and further operating the unique application based on the general purpose command instructions.

BACKGROUND

Data centers operate many servers to meet market demands to process dataand provide online services. Such servers operate multiple applicationsin parallel. Often, a single application is run by multiple distributedservers to more efficiently utilize the servers' resources. The totalcost of ownership of a data center includes the cost of purchasing theservers and other hardware in the data center, the cost to maintain theservers and other equipment, and the cost of the energy consumption torun the servers and related equipment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings illustrate various examples of the principlesdescribed herein and are a part of the specification. The illustratedexamples are merely examples and do not limit the scope of the claims.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example of a chassis with cartridges accordingto the principles described herein.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example of services for cartridges accordingto the principles described herein.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an example of a method for managing multipleunique applications electrically coupled together according to theprinciples described herein.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an example of a management system according tothe principles described herein.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example of a management system according tothe principles described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Data center operators are using general purpose servers to meet themarket's demands. Such general purpose servers are built to support awide variety of applications with options and features to meet thedemands for several markets. General purpose servers initially alloweddata center operators an easy way to support a variety of applicationson similar hardware, but as hyper-scale applications have emerged, thosesame servers provide sub-optimal total cost of ownership (performanceper dollar per watt).

The principles described herein include using system on a chip (SoC)technology in data centers. The SoC technology operates at a much lowerpower with much less space and can more quickly be tuned for particularapplications due to their building-block nature. The SoC technologycreates an opportunity to tune silicon for a particular applicationwhich is particularly well suited for hyper-scale applications. Thelower power operating abilities of servers built with SoC allow for ahigher packaging density of servers into racks of the data center. Forexample, where a rack was previously able to house tens of units in itsrack space, a rack can now house thousands of units in the same rackspace. Such densities enable data centers with previously tens ofthousands of servers to now scale to millions of servers.

In addition to increasing the scale of the servers in data centers, theprinciples described herein also include designing servers as cartridgesthat are connectable into a chassis of a data center rack. Thesecartridges are application specific, instead of the general purposeservers commonly used in the industry. Also, the cartridges include aminimal number of components, which may include just the processingresources and the memory resources specific to operate the cartridge'sunique application. All of the other supportive components for operatingthe unique applications are built into the chassis. For example, storagecomponents, cooling components, management components, chipsetcomponents, power components, and other components can be built into thechassis instead of the cartridges. These supportive components are builtwith general purpose operating parameters in mind and operate withgeneral purpose code so that a wide variety of application specificcartridges can be operated by the chassis. Thus, the supportivefunctions of the chassis provide an architecture for operating theapplications in such a manner that the cartridges can be inserted intoany position of the chassis without consideration of whether a specificposition includes specialized hardware to meet the specificapplication's operating parameters. Such a structure causes the chassisto be processor agnostic because the processors of the cartridges arenot forced to have specialized hardware or program instructions toutilize the resources of the chassis.

Such architecture enables the generation of SoC built cartridges thatare targeted to specific web scale applications or other types ofapplications to be rapidly developed on shared infrastructure thatsupports a large scale of servers. The shared infrastructure can includefederated management, network sharing, shared storage, and a cartridgebased design that can be tuned for specific applications.

The principles described herein include a method for managing multiplecartridges that are electrically coupled together. Such a methodincludes obtaining general purpose command instructions from a chassiswith a cartridge where the cartridge has a unique application and isconnected to the chassis. The method further includes operating theunique application based on the general purpose command instructions.

The principles described herein also include an apparatus for managingmultiple unique applications electrically coupled together. Such anapparatus includes a chassis with multiple positions to physicallyconnect to individual cartridges where at least some of the individualcartridges have processing resources to operate an individual uniqueapplication. The chassis also includes a management system incommunication with a group of the multiple positions and stores generalpurpose command instructions.

The principles described herein also include a system for managingmultiple unique applications electrically coupled together. Such asystem includes a management subsystem to send individualized generalpurpose command instructions to a group of cartridges connected to achassis. The cartridges have unique processing resources and uniquememory resources to operate a unique application. The system alsoincludes an allocation engine to allocate shared resources among thegroup of cartridges.

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present systems and methods. It will be apparent,however, to one skilled in the art that the present apparatus, systems,and methods may be practiced without these specific details. Referencein the specification to “an example” or similar language means that aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic described is includedin at least that one example, but not necessarily in other examples.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an example of a chassis (100) with cartridges(102) according to the principles described herein. In this example, thechassis (100) has multiple positions (104) where the cartridges (102)can be inserted into the chassis (100). Insertion into these positions(104) creates a physical connection between the chassis (100) and thecartridges (102) and also an electrical connection between thecartridges (102) and the services of the chassis (100). Such anelectrical connection electrically couples the cartridges (102) togetherin such a manner that the cartridges (102) can share resources from thechassis as wells as communicate with one another.

The chassis (100) is also in communication with a management system(106). The management system (106) may be built into the chassis (100).The management system (106) may include a management subsystem that hasa processor and memory resources that allows the management system (106)to send management command instructions to the cartridges. The commandinstructions may be general purpose program instructions that can causea wide variety of processors to execute functions. The general purposenature of the command instructions gives a cartridge engineerflexibility to create the cartridge in a manner that is well suited forthe cartridge's specific application. In such a manner, the managementsystem (106) can support cartridges customized for specificapplications, which allows for the cartridges to perform at an optimallevel. For example, certain processor designs may be ineffective forperforming certain applications. As a result of the general purposecommand instructions from the management system (106), the cartridge canutilize hardware, cartridge architecture, circuit designs, and othercartridge components that are optimized for the cartridge's uniqueapplication. Such optimization provides a high performance applicationthat uses a minimal amount of resources.

The cartridges (102) may be made with system on chip (SoC) technology,which enables the cartridges to use a significantly lower amount ofpower during the application's operation while being customized forspecific unique applications. The customization of the cartridges forspecific use applications further reduces the energy consumption duringthe operation of the applications. However, the design principles of thecartridges (102) and the general purpose management commands allow forfuture higher performance processing, networking, caching, or storagecapabilities in a device agnostic architecture.

The management system (106) may include a single management subsystem tomanage a group of cartridges. In other examples, the management system(106) includes multiple management subsystems that each manage a groupof cartridges based on the position where the cartridges are connectedto the chassis, based on the type of application, based on othercharacteristic of the cartridges, or combinations thereof. In such anexample, the management subsystems may communicate with one another tocoordinate management efforts among the different groups or relaymessages from cartridges to other management subsystems.

The resources available on the chassis (100) are allocated to thecartridges. Such shared resources may include cooling resources, powerresources, storage resources, networking resources, other resources, orcombinations thereof. By sharing such resources, the complexity of eachcartridge is reduced. The reduction in the cartridges' complexity allowscartridges to be developed quicker, be manufactured quicker, and be lessexpensive. Further, the redundancy of each cartridge supplying theindividual components to meet the cartridge's own demands for suchresources reduces inefficiencies and further reduces the costs ofmanufacturing cartridges.

While this example has been described and depicted in FIG. 1 with aspecific number of positions (104), any appropriate number of positionsmay be incorporated into the chassis according to the principlesdescribed herein. For example, cartridges using SoC technology thatinclude just those components that are specific to the cartridge'sunique application can be built with a minimal amount of components. Asa result, a chassis may include thousands of positions. Initialdevelopment of a chassis built according to the principles describedherein included over two thousand positions per datacenter rack.

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an example of services for cartridges accordingto the principles described herein. In this example, a first cartridge(200), a second cartridge (202), and a third cartridge (204) aredepicted to be in electrical communication with cartridge services (206)of the chassis.

Each of the cartridges (200, 202, 204) have memory resources (208) andprocessing resources (210). The memory resources (208) may be cachememory, processor memory, local memory, random access memory,non-volatile memory, volatile memory, read only memory, another type ofmemory, or combinations thereof. The memory resources (208) of the firstcartridge may include different types and amounts of memory resourcesthan the memory resources of the other cartridges (202, 204). Likewise,the memory resources of the second cartridge (202) may be different thanthe processing resources of the first and third cartridges (200, 204).Program instructions may be stored on the memory resources of thecartridges (200, 202, 204) which cause the processing resources (210) toexecute a task. While this example has been described with reference tospecific types of memory resource, any appropriate type of memoryresources may be used in accordance with the principles describedherein.

The processing resource may include central processing units, graphicprocessing units, processing elements, specific purpose processingunits, other types of processing units, or combinations thereof. Theprocessing resources (210) may be caused to execute tasks from programinstructions stored in the memory resources (208). The processingresources (210) of the cartridge (200) may be different than theprocessing resources of the other cartridges (202, 204). Likewise, theprocessing resources of the second cartridge (202) may be different thanthe processing resources of the first and third cartridges (200, 204).While this example has been described with reference to specific typesof processing resources, any appropriate types of processing resourcesmay be used in accordance with the principles described herein.

The memory resources (210) and the processing resources (208) of thecartridges may contain all of the components that are specific forexecuting the unique application of the cartridge. The remainder of thecomponents to assist operating the unique application is located in thecartridge services (206) of the chassis. The chassis may provide generalpurpose instruction sets and tools to the processing resources (208) andmemory resources (210) of the cartridges such that the cartridgeservices are processor agnostic. The general purpose instruction setsfrom the chassis allow for a wide variety of processing and memorydesign considerations to be implemented in the cartridges while stillallowing the cartridges' components to be able to avail themselves ofthe chassis's services.

One of the services provided by the chassis may include a coolingservice (212). A central cooling source located in the chassis maydistribute a cooling fluid to the cartridges connected to the chassis.As a result, each cartridge is freed from incorporating its own coolingmechanism. In some examples, the centralized cooling source canselectively distribute cooling fluid to individual cartridges. In otherexample, cooling engines are distributed throughout the chassis and mayselectively cool one or multiple cartridges. The cooling service mayinclude a cooling mechanism that is capable of cooling any cartridgeregardless of the specific design parameters of the cartridge'sprocessing resources or memory resources. While this example has beendescribed with reference to specific cooling services and mechanisms,any appropriate cooling services and mechanisms may be used inaccordance with the principles described herein.

Another service provided by the chassis may include a power service(214). Upon insertion to a position of the chassis, an electrical powerconnection may be established between the chassis and the cartridge. Thechassis may include a power source or a connection to a power sourcethat provides power to the cartridges. In some examples, the chassisincludes power management services for the cartridges as well. Forexample, the chassis may implement power saving protocols for thecartridges connected to the chassis. In one such example, the chassismay send a cartridge a sleep command when the cartridge's processingresources have been inactive for a predetermined amount of time. Inother such examples, the chassis may send a cartridge a wake-up commandin response to a request for the services of the cartridge. The chassismay also implement a power reduction command that causes the cartridge'sprocessing resources to implement just core operations when a scarcityof power exists. While this example has been described with reference tospecific power services and mechanisms, any appropriate power servicesand/or mechanisms may be used in accordance with the principlesdescribed herein.

A fabric service (216) may also be included in the chassis. The fabricmay include interconnected electrically conductive medium thatelectrically connect cartridges together. The fabric may also providethe electrically conductive medium that electrically connects thecartridges to the management and other services of the chassis.Additionally, the fabric may also enable high bandwidth capabilities aswell as parallel processing capabilities. In some examples, the fabricincludes interconnected nodes that include processors, memory, and/orperipherals. Such interconnected nodes may provide other networking andstorage capabilities. While this example has been described withreference to specific fabric services and mechanisms, any appropriatefabric services and/or mechanisms may be used in accordance with theprinciples described herein.

A storage service (218) may also be included in the chassis. The chassismay provide the cartridges access to additional memory storage. In suchexamples, the cartridges may store data relating to their applicationsin the chassis's storage to reduce and/or eliminate the amount ofresources on the cartridge dedicated to storage. The storage may includeboth volatile and non-volatile memory storage. Thus, the storage may beused for permanent memory storage or be used for temporary storage whilethe applications of the cartridges are in operation. A specific amountof the chassis's memory may be dedicated to each of the cartridges basedon a storage allocation policy. The storage allocation policy mayinclude allocating the storage on a demand basis, a per cartridge basis,a request basis, another basis, or combinations thereof. In someexamples, spatial or temporal regions of the chassis's storage arededicated to specific cartridges. In other examples, the data stored inthe chassis's memory is mixed with the data from the other cartridgesconnected to the chassis.

The storage services (218) may also include at least one level of cachesto more quickly retrieve data stored in more permanent types of memory.In some examples, the chassis's memory storage is connected to anexternal memory storage source to handle storage demands of thecartridges. While this example has been described with reference tospecific storage services and mechanisms, any appropriate storageservices and/or mechanisms may be used in accordance with the principlesdescribed herein.

The chassis may also provide a management service (220). The managementservice (220) may include instruction sets that govern operationalaspects, maintenance aspects, administrative aspects, and other aspectsof operating the unique applications embodied in the cartridges. Themanagement service (220) may also include network functions, such assecurity functions, allocation functions, communication protocols,authorization procedures, error checking, load balancing, other servicesthat affect the application's workflow, other management services, orcombinations thereof.

The management commands from the management subsystem of the chassis areprovided in a general purpose format that makes no or little assumptionsabout the processing resources. In such a manner, a wide variety ofcartridges regardless of how they are programmed will be able toimplement the management service's commands. While this example has beendescribed with reference to specific management services and mechanisms,any appropriate management services and/or mechanisms may be used inaccordance with the principles described herein.

The chassis may also provide a chipset service (222). The chipsetservice (222) may include instructions that manage dataflow between theprocessing resources and memory resources of the cartridge. In someexamples, the chipset manages communications between the processingresources of the cartridges and the other shared services of thechassis. While this example has been described with reference tospecific chipset services and mechanisms, any appropriate chipsetservices and mechanisms may be used in accordance with the principlesdescribed herein.

While this example has been described with reference to specificservices provided by the chassis, any appropriate type of service may beprovided in accordance with the principles described herein. Forexample, the chassis may also provide switching services, securityservices, control services, other services, or combinations thereof. Atleast one of the services is implemented in a processor agnostic mannerwith general purpose instruction sets and tools so that a wide varietyof processing resource configurations can take advantage of thechassis's services.

FIG. 3 is a diagram of an example of a method (300) for managingmultiple unique applications electrically coupled together according tothe principles described herein. In this example, the method (300)includes obtaining (302) general purpose command instructions from achassis with a cartridge having a unique application and being connectedto the chassis and operating (304) the unique application based on thegeneral purpose command instructions.

The command instructions may be program instructions stored in memory ofthe chassis, instruction sets, instructions, code, or combinationsthereof. The cartridges may include just those components that arecustomized for the specific application of the cartridge, while theremaining components and program instructions are located or stored inthe chassis. The cartridges can be built using SoC technology to reach ahigh performance while keeping the energy consumption low. By removingthose components from the cartridge that are not application specific tothe chassis, the cartridges have a minimal amount of components andresources. In this manner, the cartridges can be designed and handledefficiently, which further reduces power consumption. The chassis canservice such cartridges by using the general purpose instructions whichmakes no assumptions about the processor's unique designs. Overall, sucha system allows for a significant reduction in the overall cost ofownership.

The designs and layouts of the cartridges are specific for thecartridge's unique applications. The chassis uses the general purposeinstructions to run the unique configurations of each of the cartridges.In this manner, a wide variety of unique applications are well suitedfor the principles described herein. Such applications that may becompatible with the principles described herein include dedicatedhosting applications, modular disk sharing applications, web front endapplications, memory caching applications, web accelerator applications,dynamic web applications, high density dynamic web applications, otherapplications, or combinations thereof.

The method may include operating the unique application regardless ofwhich position the cartridge is connected to the chassis. Because thechassis's services are processor agnostic, the position in which acartridge is inserted into the chassis may not affect the cartridge'sability to avail itself of the chassis's services. Each of thecartridges may include unique processing resources to operate the uniqueapplication of the cartridge. Likewise, each cartridge may have uniquememory resources. These processing and memory resources can be differentfrom the other resources of the other cartridges also connected to thechassis. While such cartridges are unique for their specificapplications, the chassis provides services to each of the cartridges.The chassis makes little or no assumptions about each cartridge'sdesigns by using general purpose code to instruct the resources of thecartridges. As a result, the cartridges can share common resources. Suchcommon resources may include a cooling resource, a storage resource, achipset resource, a power resource, a management resource, a fabricresource, or combinations thereof.

Due to keeping just those components that are unique to the specificapplication on the cartridge, the chassis can include over a thousandpositions for the insertion of cartridges. Further, the same principlesfurther reduce the power consumption of each of the cartridges whiletheir applications are running due reductions of unnecessary resourceredundancies and simplified cartridge designs. As a result, the chassisis also able to support operations of the thousands of cartridgessimultaneously.

FIG. 4 is a diagram of an example of a management system (400) accordingto the principles described herein. The management system (400) includesa management subsystem (402) and an allocation engine (404). In thisexample, the management system (400) also includes a storage engine(406), a power engine (408), a switching engine (410), a communicationsengine (412), and a cooling engine (414). The subsystems and engines(402, 404, 406, 408, 410, 412, 414) refer to a combination of hardwareand program instructions to perform a designated function. Each of thesubsystems and/or engines (402, 404, 406, 408, 410, 412, 414) mayinclude a processor and memory. The program instructions are stored inthe memory and cause the processor to execute the designated function ofthe engine.

The management subsystem (402) sends management command instructions tothe cartridges for managing the cartridge's application. The allocationengine (404) allocates the shared resources of the chassis among thecartridges. The storage engine (406) provides storage services to thecartridges, and the power engine (408) provides power services to thecartridges. The switching engine (410) provides switching services tothe cartridges, and the communications engine (412) providescommunication services to the cartridges. The cooling engine (414)provides cooling services to the cartridges. While this example has beendescribed with reference to specific engines that provide services tothe cartridges, any appropriate engine to provide any appropriate typeof service to the cartridges may be used in accordance with theprinciples described herein.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of an example of a management system (500) accordingto the principles described herein. In this example, the managementsystem (500) includes processing resources (502) that are incommunication with memory resources (504). Processing resources (502)include at least one processor and other resources used to processprogrammed instructions. The memory resources (500) represent generallyany memory capable of storing data such as programmed instructions ordata structures used by the management system (500). The programmedinstructions shown stored in the memory resources (504) include acartridge message obtainer (506), a cartridge message interpreter (508),a response generator (510), a response sender (512), a power allocationdeterminer (514), a storage allocation determiner (516), a coolingallocation determiner (518), and a bandwidth allocation determiner(520).

The memory resources (504) include a computer readable storage mediumthat contains computer readable program code to cause tasks to beexecuted by the processing resources (502). The computer readablestorage medium may be tangible and/or non-transitory storage medium. Thecomputer readable storage medium may be any appropriate storage mediumthat is not a transmission storage medium. A non-exhaustive list ofcomputer readable storage medium types includes non-volatile memory,volatile memory, random access memory, memristor based memory, writeonly memory, flash memory, electrically erasable program read onlymemory, magnetic storage media, other types of memory, or combinationsthereof.

The cartridge message obtainer (506) represents programmed instructionsthat, when executed, cause the processing resources (502) to obtain amessage from a cartridge. The chassis may receive the message passivelyfrom the cartridge, or the chassis may actively retrieve the messagefrom the cartridge. Some types of messages may be received passivelyfrom the cartridge, while other types of messages are actively retrievedby the chassis.

The cartridge message interpreter (508) represents programmedinstructions that, when executed, cause the processing resources (502)to interpret the message from the cartridge. The response generator(510) represents programmed instructions that, when executed, cause theprocessing resources (502) to generate an appropriate response to themessage. The response is written in a general purpose format because theresponse generator makes little or no assumptions about the processingresources in the cartridge. In this manner, the response can beunderstood with a wide variety of design conditions in the cartridge.The message sender (512) sends the message to the appropriate cartridge.

The power allocation determiner (514) represents programmed instructionsthat, when executed, cause the processing resources (502) to allocatethe amount of power to each of the cartridges connected to the chassis.The storage allocation determiner (516) represents programmedinstructions that, when executed, cause the processing resources (502)to allocate the amount of storage available to the cartridges. Thecooling allocation determiner (518) represents programmed instructionsthat, when executed, cause the processing resources (502) to allocatethe amount of cooling resources to dedicate to the cartridges. Thebandwidth allocation determiner (520) represents programmed instructionsthat, when executed, cause the processing resources (502) to allocatethe amount of bandwidth to each of the cartridges.

Further, the memory resources (504) may be part of an installationpackage. In response to installing the installation package, theprogrammed instructions of the memory resources (504) may be downloadedfrom the installation package's source, such as a portable medium, aserver, a remote network location, another location, or combinationsthereof. Portable memory media that are compatible with the principlesdescribed herein include DVDs, CDs, flash memory, portable disks,magnetic disks, optical disks, other forms of portable memory, orcombinations thereof. In other examples, the program instructions arealready installed. Here, the memory resources can include integratedmemory such as a hard drive, a solid state hard drive, or the like.

In some examples, the processing resources (502) and the memoryresources (504) are located within the same physical component, such asa server, or a network component. The memory resources (504) may be partof the physical component's main memory, caches, registers, non-volatilememory, or elsewhere in the physical component's memory hierarchy.Alternatively, the memory resources (504) may be in communication withthe processing resources (502) over a network. Further, the datastructures, such as the libraries and may be accessed from a remotelocation over a network connection while the programmed instructions arelocated locally. Thus, the management system (500) may be implemented ona user device, on a server, on a collection of servers, or combinationsthereof.

The management system (500) of FIG. 5 may be part of a general purposecomputer. However, in alternative examples, the management system (500)is part of an application specific integrated circuit.

While these above examples have been described with reference tospecific types and components of a chassis, any appropriate type ofchassis or components of the chassis may be used in accordance with theprinciples described herein. Further, while the examples above have beendescribed with reference to specific mechanisms for attaching thecartridges to the chassis, any appropriate mechanism for connecting thecartridges to the chassis may be used in accordance with the principlesdescribed herein.

Further, while the examples above have been described with reference tospecific types of cartridges, any appropriate type of cartridge may beused in accordance with the principles described herein. For example,the cartridges may be built with SoC technology, another type oftechnology, or combinations thereof. Further, while the examples havebeen described with reference to specific types of services available tothe cartridges through the chassis, any appropriate type of service maybe provided through the cartridge in accordance with the principlesdescribed herein. Further, while the above mentioned services have beendescribed with reference to specific mechanisms for implementing thoseservices, any appropriate mechanism for implementing any appropriateservice may be used in accordance with the principles described herein.Also, the examples above have been described with reference to specificmechanisms for making the chassis processor agnostic, any appropriatemechanism for making the chassis processor agnostic may be used inaccordance with the principles described herein.

The preceding description has been presented only to illustrate anddescribe examples of the principles described. This description is notintended to be exhaustive or to limit these principles to any preciseform disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in lightof the above teaching.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for managing multiple cartridges thatare electrically coupled together, comprising: obtaining general purposecommand instructions from a chassis with a cartridge where saidcartridge comprises a unique application and is connected to saidchassis; and operating said unique application based on said generalpurpose command instructions.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinoperating said unique application based on said command instructionsincludes operating said unique application regardless of which positionsaid cartridge is connected to said chassis.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein said cartridge comprises unique processing resources to operatesaid unique application and said unique processing resources aredifferent than other processing resources of another cartridge connectedto said chassis to operate another unique application.
 4. The method ofclaim 3, wherein said cartridge and said another cartridge share acommon resource connected to said chassis.
 5. The method of claim 4,wherein said common resource includes a cooling resource, a storageresource, a chipset resource, a power resource, a management resource, afabric resource, or combinations thereof.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein said cartridge is one of multiple cartridges connected to saidchassis where said multiple cartridges is at least a thousandcartridges.
 7. An apparatus for managing multiple cartridges that areelectrically coupled together, comprising: a chassis with multiplepositions to physically connect to individual cartridges where at leastsome of said individual cartridges comprise processing resources tooperate an individual unique application; and said chassis comprising amanagement system in communication with a group of said multiplepositions and comprising general purpose command instructions.
 8. Theapparatus of claim 7, wherein said multiple positions are incommunication with shared resources to service said individualcartridges.
 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein said shared resourcesinclude a cooling resource, a storage resource, a fabric resource, apower resource, a management resource, a chipset resource, orcombinations thereof.
 10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein saidmultiple positions include at least a thousand positions.
 11. Theapparatus of claim 7, wherein said chassis provides external cartridgeservices that support said unique application of individual cartridgesthat contain just processing resources and memory resources to operatesaid unique application.
 12. A system for managing multiple cartridgesthat are electrically coupled together, comprising: a managementsubsystem to send individualized general purpose command instructions toa group of cartridges connected to a chassis where said cartridgescomprise unique processing resources and unique memory resources tooperate a unique application; and an allocation engine to allocateshared resources among said group.
 13. The system of claim 12, furthercomprising a storage engine to store data of said cartridges based onallocations of said allocation engine.
 14. The system of claim 12,further comprising a power engine to power said cartridges based onallocations of said allocation engine.
 15. The system of claim 12,further comprising a cooling engine to cool said cartridges based onallocations of said allocation engine.